How Do I Self-Study for the SAT?

 By the College Essay Guy

As someone whose been tutoring the SAT for almost 20 years, I can say that 

A) each tutoring plan is unique to each student, and 

B) all tutoring plans have some common features. 

But what those common features should be, and how and why to individualize them, can feel a little nebulous.

So in this post, I’ll show you different self-study plans for different types of studiers, help you create a timeline for self-study, and connect you to resources you’ll need to find content instruction and study material. But first …

SELF-STUDY BEGINS WITH ... THE SELF 

It’s right there in the name, people! If you are reading this, you are interested in self-studying for the SAT. Which means you’re likely self-aware! Self-motivated! Or ... let’s face it ... tutoring can be expensive, and so there’s gotta be a more accessible way. 

To build your study plan, first ask yourself …

So … Who are You? 

I’m A Self-Starting Engine! Motivation City, population ME! 

You’ve got a five year ... nay! A ten year ... nay! A thirty year plan! Because you know that Supreme Court justices who also find the cure for cancer AND solve climate change, all while writing that best-selling novel (while playing pro ball?! My god! Who are you?!), don’t just happen! You’ve gotta have a plan! 

I’m A Go-With-The-Flow-Hakuna-Matata Type, Baby! 

Perhaps you are a “no worries ride the vibe” surfer of life’s thrillingly gnarly waves. Plans are for suckers, right? Cuz isn’t life just going to do what it’s going to do? 

Um … I’m neither? Or sometimes both? 

Or, perhaps, your worldview and natural orientation fall somewhere in-between. Perhaps you’re motivated but not sure where to start. Or you know where to start, but you just need a little motivation and some accountability to make it work. 

Any mindset and set of circumstances that brought you to this sentence are valid, and just as there is no one path that led each person here, there is no one “right” way to study for the SAT! 

The most important thing you need to do, right here right now, is to begin to figure out what is the best way forward for you. Some students will find repetition and rigidity helpful and clarifying, while other students thrive in a more improvisational, flexible environment. Neither is better or worse, and the sweet spot often contains elements of both structure AND flexibility. However, the probable success or failure of a study plan will likely be less about the structure of the plan itself than about how fully the plan aligns with the way you work best. 

For example, I’m generally someone who thrives better in sunshine and heat than in gray skies and cold weather. However, the best days for me are not necessarily the sunniest days but those when the weather, whatever it may be, aligns with how I’m feeling. Do I feel aligned with sunshine more often than not? Yep. But if I’m feeling slow and meditative, a cold, gray day beats the pants off a sunny day! So, your first assignment is to do a little dive into your past and think about who you are, why you’re here, and what kinds of work structures best help you stay motivated and accountable.

Here’s an example from my own experience to model how to investigate how you work best, and to get those self-investigative juices flowing: 

A few years ago, I decided to get serious about working out. I have always been athletic, but it had been awhile since I had been on a sports team, and I realized how much I missed being as active as I had then. 

Still, getting back into a groove was hard. I was out of practice. I was not as strong as I’d once been. And—I had to be real with myself—conditioning was always my least favorite part of playing sports. Now I was asking myself to get excited about essentially all conditioning and no play? It was a tough sell. 

My first plan (which I don’t think was ever intentionally a plan, just an instinct that I ran with), was drill-sergeant-level tough love. That’s right! If I needed to motivate myself, I’d just do what my most demanding, scream-in-your-face coach back in the day would do! Did it matter that he was my least favorite coach who actually just made me feel more scared than motivated? Nope! Cuz we needed to get in shape, and so demanding and screamy must be the way to go! 

I basically invented a mental trainer for myself, and the trainer I invented showed no mercy and pretty much hated me. Needless to say, for me, this plan was a disaster. All the impossible standards, the inner screaming and shame ... just made me feel like crap. That caused my  inner protector/guard dog to start barking its head off with its own message: we don’t need any of this! Rebel! Rebel! Now, my inner rebel needs no convincing to show up to a party; she’s pretty much always ready with a crazed look in her eye and a box of matches. 

And thus ... the plan started to unravel. It turns out fear, shame, and rigidity tend to make me do the OPPOSITE of what I’m supposed to do, so for me this workout plan was never going to, well, work out. However, failure was also a great teacher! NOW I had some information about myself, which meant NOW I could make an intentional plan taking all I had learned into account. 

Okay! So structure good but rigidity bad! From this nugget of self-knowledge I created a new plan, which I called the 1-2-3 Plan. For the structural tentpoles, I gave myself a weekly goal of 10 points. An “easy” workout counted for 1 point, a “medium” workout was a 2, and a “hard” workout was a 3. However, I decided that how I achieved those 10 points each week was entirely up to me. I could go “slow and low” 6-7 days a week, or do a few high intensity workouts 3-4 days a week. I also knew that the greater variety I allowed myself (yoga, dance, tennis, lifting, cardio), the more likely I would be to stick to the plan. This combination of tentpole structure with built-in flexibility and variety was exactly what I needed to set myself up for success, and ... the plan worked! I shall now pat myself on the back with my strong, strong arms. 

MAKE A PLAN, STAN. 

Before we get into self-study models themselves, let’s talk about the 3 types of work you’ll need to do to be fully prepared for the SAT:

1. MEMORIZATION

   While the SAT provides some geometry formulas on the test itself, you still will need to have a short list of math formulas and grammar rules memorized. Memorization work is usually best achieved through rote repetition, which requires frequent interaction with the material over time. There are many ways to memorize, some quite creative like generating a mnemonic device or even putting something to music. Still, there’s often no better way to straight up memorize than good ole’ flashcards that you go through at least once a day until the information is really absorbed. 

2. LEARNING

   I mean, duh. While most if not all of the concepts on the SAT will be ones with which you have some familiarity, you’re gonna need to do a little content learning and a little strategy learning for all four sections. Real absorption and learning takes a deeper level of engagement than simple memorization, especially when it comes to implementing strategies for the test. This is all to say ... please don’t give yourself a week to prep for this thing and think you’re gonna master it! Give yourself the time to really let these concepts and strategies sink in. 

3. PRACTICE

   Obviously, the best way to do that is ... practice! Not only will you want to practice implementing content knowledge and strategy, you’ll want to practice performance skills like timing, stamina, and anxiety management. 

With that in mind, here are …

SELF-STUDY PLAN MODELS 

1. THE MARATHONER 

Who is this for? 

• Students who have more than 6 weeks of prep time

• Students who work better in less intensive, longer-term environments

• Students who do not have much time per week do devote to prep 

• Students who prefer to work more slowly 

The Marathoner is the approach I’d advocate for most students, most of the time. Why? 

Firstly, most students need at least 6 weeks (and ideally up to  3 months before the first test sitting) of prep and practice for SAT concepts and strategy to become second nature. The more time you have taken to really get “under the hood” of this test, figure out how it works, and practice until there’s very little the SAT can throw at you on test day you haven’t seen before ... the better! 

Secondly, most students I have worked with are simply too busy with schoolwork, extracurriculars, and the everyday business of life to devote the time per week it takes to really master this stuff quickly. This is not to say The Sprinter model (see below) can’t work. It can, given the right personality type, knowledge base, and set of circumstances! (For example, if you scored a 1490 with no prep ... see The Sprinter.) However, for most of us, it takes a bit longer to prep for the SAT because we just don’t have the time to make the SAT the #1 focus in our lives. 

The Marathoner is based largely on what a 3-ish-month tutoring program would look like. Here is a proposed scaffolding of that plan with self-study tips and adaptations included: 

The Plan: 

1. 1x weekly 90-minute tutoring session (for self-study, this could be time with a study buddy, or dedicated time to “teach” yourself new concepts, look up explanations to questions you don’t understand, etc.) 

2. 1-4 hours homework in between tutoring sessions (ramping up over time from small assignments to full practice tests) 

   (#1 + #2 = 2.5-5.5 hours weekly) 

3. At least 2-4 full, timed practice tests before sitting for the real exam

4. Use both untimed practice to master concepts/strategy and timed practice to master performance skills/stamina

This type of plan is generally comprised of 4 “phases”: 

Phase 1: Develop a fundamental understanding of each section of the test—how each one is set up, timed, and scored; what concepts are and are not on the test; overall and concept-specific strategies for each section.

Phase 2: Do a deep dive into concepts unfamiliar to you or those you need greater mastery of. This is the “content learning phase”—always with an eye toward strategy when applicable.

Phase 3: Maintain a focus on content/strategy (as opposed to performance), but now add in bite-sized timing/performance elements. Timed passages as opposed to sections.

Phase 4: Put it all together! Bring together concept, strategy, and performance elements by timing full sections. Finally, complete full timed practice tests and review these tests afterward.   

A NOTE ABOUT PRACTICE TESTS

This plan includes at least 2-4 full, timed practice tests, but if there’s a single recommendation I have for any student prepping for the SAT, it would be: DO MORE PRACTICE TESTS. Conveniently, the College Board offers a bunch of free SAT tests right here. There is a mountain of evidence that shows that even just taking practice tests leads to better scores. So … DO THIS! Take practice tests! Is there still a benefit to Phase 1 of this process, the “taking apart the watch” phase where you really get inside the minds of the test-takers before you begin taking full practice tests? Yes! But there’s really no better way to get better at taking the whole test than to TAKE THE WHOLE TEST. So … TAKE. PRACTICE. TESTS. 

2. THE SPRINTER  

Who is this for? 

• Students who have 6 weeks or less to prep

• Students who work better in short-burst, intensive environments

• Students who have a lot of time (within a short time span) to devote to prep

• Students who prefer to work quickly  

This plan is for the adrenaline junkies out there, the students with a pretty open schedule within a small (6 weeks or less) time frame, those who are close to their goal score without prep, and those who just work better in small, concentrated bursts. 

Caution: this is rarely the right path for students who find there are significant content areas they are learning for the first time. 

As mentioned above, the “learning” portion of this work takes the most time, so the more content you need to learn from scratch, the longer it will take (and the less likely this model of self-study will bear fruit). However, if you find yourself looking at this model because it’s 3 weeks before the test and you didn’t actually think you would even take it but now you realize you need to take it and ... oh geez ... you are cramming and stressing and “the sprinter” model is the only one still available because ... oh god! Is it too late for me?! 

To you we also say: welcome. Doesn’t matter how you got here. Come rest your weary bones by the fire. 

The Plan: 

Phase 1 (Weeks 1 & 2): Know what you know, and what you don’t know. Look at a comprehensive list of test concepts and content, mark unfamiliar or “brush up” concepts. Label these concepts as either A (don’t know but somewhat familiar/looks doable) or B (don’t know and not at all familiar/looks NOT doable). Cross-reference this list with “most important” content areas. 

Refine your list in order of priority:

1. A’s deemed important content 

2. B’s deemed important content

3. A’s deemed less important content 

4. B’s deemed less important content 

Based on the time you have, work on as many content areas as you can based on this order of priority. 

Note: if you have a long list and a short timeframe, it’s okay to ignore #4 entirely in order to focus on more accessible/more important content. 

Phase 2 (Weeks 2 & 3): Start timing yourself pretty quickly. If you have 4-6 weeks to prep, start by timing individual passages, next time full sections, and then full practice tests. If you have fewer than 4 weeks until your SAT, do full sections timed, understanding that the more comprehensive your mastery of content and strategy, the better you’ll be at pacing. 

Phase 3 (Weeks 4-6, but possibly woven in earlier): Full practice tests and practice test review. For The Sprinter model, you can and perhaps should start taking full practice tests after the first week of prep, even if you don’t feel fully ready. You’ll still get good information from the attempt because the best way to know how you’ll do on an SAT is to, ya know, take a full SAT. This will give you great information about where you need to focus moving forward: 

• Do you need a deeper foundation of content knowledge? 

• Are you good on the concepts, but having issues with timing and fatigue? 

• Perhaps you’re continuing to overthink easy problems, second guessing yourself, or racing through sections only to make a bunch of careless errors, in which case it’s likely SAT strategy that you need to spend more time on. 

Whatever it is, starting to take full practice tests once a week can be really useful, as The Sprinter model has no time to waste. 

GATHER YE RESOURCES WHILE YE MAY 

There are tons of free resources available, but here are a few to get you started:

1. In case you missed it above, here are a bunch of free SAT practice tests 

2. Khan Academy has partnered with the College Board to offer free async test prep

3. Strategies and hacks for raising your SAT score

STICK TO THE PLAN

Regardless of what plan you create for yourself, the success or failure of any plan really rests on two things: clarity & accountability. 

Clarity: you’ll want a clear idea of what you plan to accomplish each study period. Accountability: you need some kind of accountability system to keep you honest. 

Here are a few ways to help with both: 

1. Sampler vs. Smorgasbord

Are you an all-day snacker or a full meal kind of person? In other words, are you better with frequent, small “bites” of information/study, or do you prefer to rock a marathon work session once or twice a week? Both methods have their place, and often a great study plan has elements of both. In order to stick to your plan, however, give yourself CLARITY about ... 

• How frequently you’re going into SAT mode & how long you’re going to study during each session

• What you are going to accomplish each time 

Remember! You are trying to stick to this plan, right? So create goals for yourself that are ambitious but reasonable. There are natural limits to how much our brains can absorb in a given time period. Know your limits. Take breaks. And schedule study time at times of the day and in environments where you can actually ... ya know ... focus. 

2. Study Buddy 

We’ve probably all learned by now that having an accountability partner can be helpful when we’re trying to accomplish just about anything. This is one of the reasons that tutors are valuable. Not only are these professionals experts in their fields, simply having someone you’re accountable to can make following through on a study plan that much easier. If you’re not going the tutoring route, a study buddy can be a great accountability partner, especially if you are someone who absorbs information more easily in a collaborative environment. 

Would I enlist the help of my flakiest friend? Probably not. But would I find a study buddy who largely aligns with my goals and pace of study, and who also brings something to the table I don’t have (and vice versa)? Yeeeeeeeeeah. 

3. Carrots & Sticks

Here’s a buzzword: gamification. What does it mean? It’s simply a fancy term for another pretty intuitive concept. Mary Poppins put it best when she said, “in every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap! The job’s a game!” We see this everywhere nowadays, from memberships with rewards points to “badges” and “leveling up” in all manner of things. 

So how do you “gamify” your self-study plan? 

Again, who are you? Are you someone who responds better to negative consequences if you don’t do something, or rewards if you do? Are there milestones you can set for yourself that, when you hit them, something awesome happens? 

The more you can find ways to turn this whole process into a game rather than a chore, the less miserable prep will be and, more importantly, the more likely you are to stick to any plan you’ve created. 

4. The Only Constant is Change

Ya gotta give it to Greek philosopher Heraclitus (wow, that’s a thought I’ve never had before this very moment) ... the only constant is change! 

Maybe you’ve just put the final, flourishing touch on a perfect self-study plan only to learn five minutes later you’ve been assigned a time-consuming class project (or been cast in the play, or discovered gold in them thar hills ... ). 

Point is: life happens! In the age of COVID, I’m pretty sure every human reading this gets it. This is just a reminder that changing a plan because it’s not working is not failure, it’s adaptation! And ya know what happens to species who don’t adapt. Sometimes we wrestle too long with a plan that is not working because we think it should be working, but the wiser path is simply to acknowledge what actually is and adjust accordingly. 

(Note: sometimes this means it’s actually a pretty good idea to work with a tutor after all, if that option is available to you.)  

So go forth, intrepid traveler! It’s been lovely having you at The Inn, but now it’s time to set out on the road of SAT self-study. Good luck, and above all, trust yourself. You can do this. 

Special thanks to Martha Marion for writing this post

Martha (she/her) is a teacher and performer from Los Angeles, California. She received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and is currently working towards an MA in Psychology from the University of the West. Martha has been tutoring since 2005, focusing on the SAT, ACT, U.S. History, and all things Language Arts. She is also an actor, director, and teaching artist with The Story Pirates, facilitating creative writing workshops all over Los Angeles and helping to adapt kids’ work for stage, screen, and podcast. When not working with students, you can hear Martha’s voice in video games such as God of War and Saints Row as well as animated programs such as the upcoming Transformers: Earthspark on Nickelodeon.